3 Nephi 18: 14

“Therefore blessed are ye if ye shall keep my commandments, which the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you.”

The Lord’s whole purpose is to bless us. He offers blessings freely. But we will not accept them. We refuse to offer an acceptable sacrifice before the Lord. It will be a long time yet before the sons of Levi offer an offering in righteousness to the Lord. (See D&C 13: 1; JS-H 1: 69.) The sacramental offering is a type of the earlier Levitical offerings.

However, when an acceptable offering has been made, the Lord will always bless those who keep the commandments respecting His ordinances.

Changing these things in the least robs the ordinances of the very power they were intended to confer. (Isa. 24: 5.)

If you keep His commandments, the inevitable result is a blessing from Him. The greatest of these blessings is, of course, to be remembered by Him in the day of judgment. The next greatest is to always have His Spirit to be with you.

It is of note that Christ points to the Father in all things, and therefore points to the Father in this teaching, as well. The commandments He teaches are those “which the Father hath commanded [Him] that [He] should give unto you.” In every respect the Son points to the Father. It is always the Father’s will and the Father’s glory Christ seeks to uphold. (Moses 4: 2.)

The Son seeks our glory and exaltation, while giving credit to the Father for all He does. Though the Savior occupies the central role in the process, He serves others. Selflessly He instructs us on how we may be blessed and glorified. Selflessly He points to the Father as the one to receive your testimony by obedience. Selflessly He explains the Father is the one who has commanded these things. But through it all, it is Christ who has been the messenger of salvation. He is the one whose sacrifice made possible our redemption. It is Christ whose body and blood we must partake for redemption. It is Christ of whom the Father testifies. (See, e.g., 3 Nephi 11: 7; Matt. 17: 5; Luke 9: 35.) Christ bears testimony of the Father. The Father bears record of the Son. In one eternal round, they form a circle. It is Christ’s work and the Father’s commandment which invites us to join in that circle and become one with Them.

How simple the ways provided for us in this condescension of God. How plain the way has been given. Yet we find reasons to do “more or less” than what is asked. For that we forfeit blessings which might otherwise have been ours.

This is powerful material. Assuming we decide to “do” rather than to “say.”